Printing devices, such as printers, copy machines, and multi-function peripherals (MFPs) such as the Ricoh Aficio Color 6513 system, sometimes have multiple source trays and multiple output trays (also called “mailboxes”). Each source tray may contain sheets of media of a different type. For example, a first source tray might contain paper of one size and/or color, a second source tray might contain paper of another size and/or color, and a third tray might contain sheets of non-paper media, such as transparency sheets.
Printing device users often find it useful to print multiple copies of an electronic document. Typically, to print multiple copies of a document, a user activates a “print” control in the user interface of the application in which the document is currently loaded. In response, the application invokes a printer driver. The printer driver displays an interface that allows the user to specify how many copies of the document the user wants to print. If the printing device through which the document is to be printed has multiple source trays and/or output trays, then the interface may allow the user to specify a single source tray and a single output tray. When the copies of the document are printed, all of the copies are printed on media from the specified source tray, and all of the copies are deposited in the specified output tray.
There are many times when users find it beneficial to print one copy of a document on one type of media, and another copy of that same document on another type of media. Similarly, there are many times when users find it beneficial to have separate printed copies of the same document deposited into different output trays. For example, a user might want to print a first copy of a document on white paper from a first source tray, a second copy of that document on yellow paper from a second source tray, and a third copy of that document on pink paper from a third source tray. The user might want the first copy to be deposited in a first output tray, the second copy to be deposited in a second output tray, and the third copy to be deposited in a third output tray. After all of the copies have been printed, the user may distribute each copy to a different person or organization.
Unfortunately, when a user wants to do something like this, it is not very easy for the user to do so. As is discussed above, interfaces displayed by existing printer drivers at most only allow the user to choose one of several input trays and one of several output trays for all of the copies of a document. Therefore, if a user wants to print multiple copies of a document on sheets of media from separate input trays, the user is required to activate the “print” control of an application multiple times. For example, if the user wanted to print a first copy of a document on white paper from a first source tray, a second copy of that document on yellow paper from a second source tray, and a third copy of that document on pink paper from a third source tray, then the user would need to (1) invoke the printer driver a first time, specifying that a single copy of the document should be printed on white paper from the first source tray, (2) after sending the first copy to the printing device, invoke the printer driver a second time, specifying that a single copy of the document should be printed on yellow paper from the second source tray, and (3) after sending the second copy to the printing device, invoke the printer driver a third time, specifying that a single copy of the document should be printed on pink paper from the third source tray.
If a user needs to print many copies of a document in this manner, the user may become irritated with the repetitive nature of the actions he is required to perform. Using existing techniques, for example, if a user wanted to print twenty different copies of the same document using media from twenty different input trays, then the user would need to activate the “print” control of an application twenty separate times, and tell the printer driver, twenty different times, to print a single copy of the document.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a technique that allows users to specify, through a combined user interface, separate source trays and/or output trays for separate copies of the same electronic document.